Friday, May 11, 2012

Mali Crisis Worsens West Africa Food Crisis | Special Section | World | Epoch Times

Mali Crisis Worsens West Africa Food Crisis | Special Section | World | Epoch Times



West Africa’s Sahel region is facing a massive food shortage, with as many as 15 million people facing hunger or starvation, a high-level United Nations official said.
The recent clashes between Tuareg-led rebels and the Malian government have worsened the food insecurity in the Sahel region, a belt-like area that stretches across Africa, from the Red Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. Tens of thousands of people have fled Mali to nearby countries such as Niger, where food is in short supply.
“In this case, the crisis is different than it’s ever been in the past,” said Ertharin Cousin, the Executive Director of the World Food Program (WFP), referring to crises in 2005 and 2010. “It’s even more complicated because of the evolving conflict situation in Mali as well as the high food prices,” she said in a press release.
Cousin said around 35,000 refugees have poured into Niger from Mali in the past several months, exacerbating problems caused by a rain shortfall and failed harvest in the region. The lean season, which technically starts in June, has already started for some families.
“Because the rains failed last season, what you’re seeing is that the hungry poor, the most vulnerable populations, are now at the point where they have depleted their assets,” Cousin said.
However, with the political situation in Mali still in flux, the U.N. expects even more people to cross into Niger.
“My father gave me a goat that I sold to pay for transportation from Menaka (in eastern Mali) to Niger, but it was not enough for all of us so I left my three youngest children with my cousins,” Mariama, 47, was quoted as saying by the U.N.
“We could not stay in Menaka as my family members are also having problems to feed their own families; we just did not want to be an extra burden.”
Ousseini, a 30-year-old Malian teacher, said he was forced to sell some goats and a television to get enough money to take himself, his wife, son, and seven nephews to the Mangaize camp in Niger. “We left because of insecurity, but also because I have not been paid since February,” he said.
Around 1 million children risk starving to death in the near future in the Sahel region if the international community idles, the U.N. said.
The Sahel is the transitional point between the Sudanian Savannas in the south and the Sahara desert, and cuts across Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Algeria, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Sudan including Darfur, and Eritrea.
Niger is the worst affected country in the region, Cousin said. The WFP has begun an emergency operation to feed 3.3 million people in Niger, focusing on children under two.
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West Africa’s Sahel region is facing a massive food shortage, with as many as 15 million people facing hunger or starvation, a high-level United Nations official said.
The recent clashes between Tuareg-led rebels and the Malian government have worsened the food insecurity in the Sahel region, a belt-like area that stretches across Africa, from the Red Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. Tens of thousands of people have fled Mali to nearby countries such as Niger, where food is in short supply.
“In this case, the crisis is different than it’s ever been in the past,” said Ertharin Cousin, the Executive Director of the World Food Program (WFP), referring to crises in 2005 and 2010. “It’s even more complicated because of the evolving conflict situation in Mali as well as the high food prices,” she said in a press release.
Cousin said around 35,000 refugees have poured into Niger from Mali in the past several months, exacerbating problems caused by a rain shortfall and failed harvest in the region. The lean season, which technically starts in June, has already started for some families.
“Because the rains failed last season, what you’re seeing is that the hungry poor, the most vulnerable populations, are now at the point where they have depleted their assets,” Cousin said.
However, with the political situation in Mali still in flux, the U.N. expects even more people to cross into Niger.
“My father gave me a goat that I sold to pay for transportation from Menaka (in eastern Mali) to Niger, but it was not enough for all of us so I left my three youngest children with my cousins,” Mariama, 47, was quoted as saying by the U.N.
“We could not stay in Menaka as my family members are also having problems to feed their own families; we just did not want to be an extra burden.”
Ousseini, a 30-year-old Malian teacher, said he was forced to sell some goats and a television to get enough money to take himself, his wife, son, and seven nephews to the Mangaize camp in Niger. “We left because of insecurity, but also because I have not been paid since February,” he said.
Around 1 million children risk starving to death in the near future in the Sahel region if the international community idles, the U.N. said.
The Sahel is the transitional point between the Sudanian Savannas in the south and the Sahara desert, and cuts across Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Algeria, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Sudan including Darfur, and Eritrea.
Niger is the worst affected country in the region, Cousin said. The WFP has begun an emergency operation to feed 3.3 million people in Niger, focusing on children under two.
The Epoch Times publishes in 35 countries and in 19 languages. Subscribe to our e-newsletter.
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Thursday, May 10, 2012

Bid to stop elephant poaching in Cameroon ends in violence - Calling Card News

Bid to stop elephant poaching in Cameroon ends in violence - Calling Card News


Bid to stop elephant poaching in Cameroon ends in violence

March 12, 2012


Poachers have always targeted elephants for their ivory tusks, but the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) recently reported more than 300 have been slaughtered in the past few months. In an effort to stop the illegal slaughter of these creatures, the IFAW and the Cameroon government have employed military force.

However, this tactic resulted in violence. A clash between poachers and the Cameroon Rapid Intervention Battalion left 10 elephants, one soldier and one poacher dead.

"The fight against poaching is a war and like any other war there will be casualties," said Celine Sissler Bienvenu, director of IFAW France and head of operations in Africa. "These poachers are working in gangs. We found shells indicating they are armed with military-issue automatic or semi-automatic weapons... Villagers who have come into contact with the poachers were told of their plans to collect as much ivory as they can until the end of March."


The best way to put an end to the unnecessary slaughter of elephants in Cameroon, according to Sissler Bienvenu, is to remove the demand for ivory on an international level.
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How to Make a Difference

How to Make a Difference


How to Build a Culture of Community Involvement

One of the biggest issues in many small (and not so small) communities is that of getting volunteers for community organisations and events.  Often it seems to be the same small group of people doing everything.

Below are a few suggestions to encourage more volunteers to come forward.  None of this will result in stampedes of volunteers overnight, but if we think long term about building a community with a culture of active community involvement, they may help.


  • Set up service awards presented by Council/Community Board/local government - monthly/annually/as appropriate
  • Volunteer "jobs" board in the library and also in the Messenger
    * Make sure that listings say skills required, that training is offered, what skills volunteers will gain etc etc
  • Volunteer "jobs" expo
  • Partner with significant employers in the area to have staff community volunteering recognised in some way
  • Partner with Government agencies/Social Services to have community service/volunteering encouraged
  • Put a monthly volunteer interview/profile in local newsletters/newspapers (+ sponsored award?)
    * Why do you volunteer?
    * How did you get involved?
    * What do you get out of it?
    * What skills have you gained?
    * What skills did you need?
    * How much time does it take?
    Interview as diverse range of people as possible - ie not the usual suspects. Eg The bowls club secretary, Lions club treasurer, a volunteer fire fighter, someone from the Marae Committee, a PTA member, the Rugby club Pres ..

How do you encourage Volunteering in your community?
 
 
 
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Poachers slaughter 200 elephants in Cameroon national park in six weeks. « The Truth is Where?

Poachers slaughter 200 elephants in Cameroon national park in six weeks. « The Truth is Where?


 
Poachers have killed more than 200 elephants in six weeks in Cameroon, in a “massacre” fuelled by Asian demand for ivory.

A local government official said heavily armed poachers from Chad and Sudan had decimated the elephant population of Bouba Ndjida national park, in Cameroon’s far north.

“We are talking about a very serious case of trans-frontier poaching, involving well-armed poachers with modern weapons from Sudan and Chad who are decimating this wildlife species to make quick money from the international ivory trade,” said Gambo Haman, governor of Cameroon’s northern region.

Speaking on local radio, Haman said some of the poachers were on horseback and operated with the help of the local population, who were given free elephant meat and were glad to be rid of animals that damage their crops.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw) said cross-border poaching was common during the dry season but the scale of the killings so far this year was unprecedented.
“This latest massacre is massive and has no comparison to those of the preceding years,” the group said in a statement.

Citing a record number of large scale ivory seizures in 2011, Traffic, a conservation group that tracks trends in wildlife trading, has warned of a surge in elephant poaching in Africa to meet Asian demand for tusks for use in jewellery and ornaments.

Underlining the clout of the poaching force, Haman said a group of 50 had killed six Chadian soldiers who tried to arrest them as they fled with the ivory.

“In January we counted 146 [elephant] carcasses and since the beginning of this month we’ve had close to 60 already. This may only be a tip of the iceberg as some may have been killed in parts of the park that we cannot access,” Haman added.

Cameroon has dispatched a rapid-reaction force to the area but Haman said there were not enough troops to cover the remote park.

Ifaw said it was not clear how many elephants remained in Cameroon. A 2007 estimate put the figure at between 1,000 and 5,000.

Traffic has said that the spike in poaching and illegal ivory trade in Africa is a direct consequence of China’s investment drive into the continent.
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Trans-frontier poaching decimating elephant herds in Camaroon

 
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Camaroon send in military to stop elephant slaughter | Metro Newspaper

Camaroon send in military to stop elephant slaughter | Metro Newspaper


Camaroon send in military to stop elephant slaughter

Written by:

Cameroon has launched a military offensive to flush out elephant poachers from a remote national park in the country’s northeast near the border with Chad.
Defense Minister Alain Mebe Ngo’o announced the operation on state television late Thursday, saying that the country needed to take action against the poachers believed to be from Sudan.

In just eight weeks, the World Wildlife Fund estimates that the poachers have decimated the elephant population, killing between 200 and 300 of the roughly 400 elephants in the Bouba N’Djida National Park.

The wildlife group said in a statement released Friday that the military operation was launched Wednesday night after a high-level meeting between the minister of defense and the minister in charge of wildlife. The group cited unnamed sources confirming that over 100 Cameroonian soldiers had entered the park on Thursday to secure the area from poachers.
According to the wildlife group, the heavily armed poachers entered Cameroonian territory illegally via the border with Chad in order to harvest the ivory.

“The poachers, who are reportedly Arabic speakers traveling on horseback, are believed to be from Sudan and it is widely speculated that the vast volumes of ivory are destined for Asian markets,” said the WWF.

The government has been under pressure to take action from both environmental groups and the European Union, ever since graphic images of the slaughtered elephants were published.
“We saw this situation coming,” said Basile Yapo Monssan, the WWF country director. “We have consistently alerted the government on the alarming growing rate of poaching in Cameroon. This is their wake-up call,” Yapo says.

In 2010, WWF wrote a letter to the prime minister saying that drastic measures were needed to stop the crossborder poaching. In 2011, a group of 12 ambassadors followed up with a second letter.

Lamine Sebogo, the group’s elephant coordinator, said that northern Cameroon’s elephant population represents 80 percent of the total population of savanna elephants in all of Central Africa.

“Any remaining elephant population remains at high risk until military forces are able to secure the area,” said the WWF. “It is absolutely vital that the (military) exercise is not a publicity stunt – the poachers must be engaged, arrested and prosecuted to send out a strong message.”





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Sustainable Development



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-muir/balancing-economic-growth_b_1506358.html
 

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Balancing Economic Growth With True Sustainability



I am privileged to attend the World Economic Forum for the first time. For me, it is very poignant that this forum is taking place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Addis is not only the home of the African Union but also at the heart of the new economic growth taking place on the continent.

Talk here is that Africa's projected growth rate for 2012 will be in excess of 5% and at a time of global uncertainty and general economic downturn. Talking to various delegates it seems that whilst there is a genuine worry around food security and high rates of youth unemployment, there is, at the same time, a renewed optimism about this continent's future.

However, the sustainability of this economic boom and growth requires attention and planning. Much of the economic growth for Africa is around a so-called resource boom, and this equates largely to extraction (mining) as well as natural resource utilization (farming and forestry). Transforming ecosystems through economic development has yielded net benefits to human society, but continuing to achieve these gains by degrading nature risks irreversible declines in productivity and producing an inverse relationship between resource exploitation and poverty alleviation.


In terms of Africa, unmitigated loss of nature, accelerated by population growth, will lead to ecosystem change at a scale and breadth too costly to reverse, and particularly when one adds climate change predictions into this boiling pot. We must guard against loosing the true meaning and concept of sustainability.

We can learn from people who live directly in natural environments, such as farmers, the 'first people' and indigenous peoples of Africa and our world, notwithstanding that our environments and challenges have altered in the contemporary world. The North American Indians for example, had a basic philosophy that before every action and decision they took today, they would look to the impact to the seventh generation. How do we accept the implications of living within our means, of living with tomorrow in mind?


Clearly, now is the time to implement many of the agreements and mechanisms agreed to at COP17 and other forums that will combine sustainable resource utilization together with access to clean energy mechanisms. This would include African governments putting into place adequate policies together with the tools and resources to monitor and enforce impacts.

The World Economic Forum has highlighted the fact that one in six people do not have access to adequate nutrition (approximately 1 billion people).  
At the same time it is "spearheading efforts to rethink infrastructure development, reshape responsible capitalism and encourage the free movement of people and goods" and that "social development without economic progress is not feasible."


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